In The Octoroon Girl (fig. 3), Motley portrayed an elegant young woman seated on a sofa against a warm-red wall. In this beautifully balanced composition, the model is posed off center, between a gold-framed painting at the upper left and at the lower right a table on which books and a decorative figurine are arranged. Demonstrating the artist’s skill in rendering a variety of textures, she is stylishly dressed in a black-velvet dress trimmed with red satin and a close-fitting green hat and wears a jeweled pendant on a delicate gold chain. Her left hand is carefully positioned to display what appears to be a diamond engagement ring, while, in her right hand, she holds a pair of leather gloves. As in Motley’s Self-Portrait, the sitter looks directly at the viewer, conveying a sense of confidence and composure. Writing years later about The Octoroon Girl, Motley described how difficult it was to determine whether a light-skinned person is “pure Caucasian or Octoroon.” He stated:

• I have seen Octoroons with skin as white as people from Northern Europe such as the Baltic countries; with blonde straight hair, blue eyes, sharp well proportioned features and extremely thin lips. The head is normally and well constructed and symmetrically balanced. The construction of the body is such as an elongation of the arms, a tendency toward a weak bone construction found in many of the dark purer Negroes and large fat heels are non-existant. 26

Because, for Motley, little distinguished “Octoroons” from whites, he depicted women of this “racial type” as elegant and upper class, with Euro-American features and signs of wealth and privilege. To him, such subjects not only appeared cultured and accomplished but also conformed to white America’s ideals of beauty and social standing, which Motley shared.

First displayed in 1925 at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was awarded the prestigious Frank G. Logan Medal, Motley’s painting A Mulatress (fig. 4) is a three-quarter-length portrait of a woman seated, one leg crossed over the other, in a high-backed armchair. The line created by the bend of her knee is repeated in reverse by a draped table with a vase of flowers and a statuette. Hanging above is a landscape painting in a gold frame. 27 As he did in the two portraits discussed above, Motley meticulously described the details of the sitter’s clothing and accessories. Her long, sleeveless gown is embellished with a floral pattern; her jewelry includes a pearl necklace, coral earrings, a brooch, and a gold bangle. Again the artist displayed his bravado in depicting expressive hands: the model rests one in her lap, and her other on the chair arm. Her poise, chic hairstyle, and straightforward gaze seem to indicate a modern self-assurance and sharpness.

Obviously an important work for Motley, A Mulatress was featured on the cover of the catalogue accompanying the artist’s first one-person show, at the New Gallery, New York, in 1928. 28 Motley described the sitter as possessing “an extremely fiery temper” and explained that, in this work, he had intended to “express the true Mulatress,” stressing “the physiognomy of the face and the personality and relation of the hands to the face.” 29

In this case, Motley’s categorization seems to have been influenced by a character type called the “tragic Mulatto,” who appears in literary and visual texts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as promiscuous and unable to control her emotions, which inevitably results in her demise. 30 The severe, jutting angle of the model’s chin and firm set of her mouth are striking. The artist could have read in physiognomic texts that these characteristics indicate a defiant, selfish, and vindictive disposition. 31 Motley included the various props––all accouterments of civility––in an attempt to, as he put it, “reduce to a certain extent the fiery appearance of the figure” and restrain her “temperamental personality.” 32 While the setting indicates that a “Mulatto” woman could also occupy a position of privilege, the artist nonetheless emphasized her sexualized personality in order to distinguish her from the upper echelons of African American society reserved for “Octoroons.” 33